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“Geometry was never my favorite subject!”…now I know ‘why’.    

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Gulzar was born in undivided India…in a city called Dina! He is 78, so decided to not wait anymore and thus walked across the zero-line at Wagah recently. There, an old street-vendor said to him “Your father used to collect 5 Rs. Rent from me. You, my landlord, have come…so please you take money from me”! Gulzar held his hand and started crying.

When asked about his visit to Dina, he said “I always felt that doing that would complete the circle for me!”

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At that time, there was another man in Pakistan!

But he could never come back to his village in Punjab, to see his life coming to a full circle…

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Well! I know that someone up there has written different scripts for each one of us…

But…none of us deserves an arc!

Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh’s horse won at Pune Race Course the day he was losing his race with life …

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Experts believed that the horse (named Royal) could never run over the mile…to them it was simply beyond the horse! In fact most believed that Royal was a sprinter, while few thought he would even get seven furlongs.

But he was Jagjit Singh’s favorite! He always believed that Royal would certainly get a mile; there was no doubt in his mind…

On the fateful day, the horse put in a forceful gallop in the final stages of the race to shock everyone to score a determined victory in the Pelican Trophy for top class horses at the Pune race course.

He proved his master right!

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We all got to keep running… to prove someone right!

Someone…who believed in us, when no one else did!

“I disagree that my virtue is only in my virginity”… believes Sohaila Abdulali, who was brutally raped in 1981 at an innocent age of 17.

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Rather than seeing it as a loss of her esteem or a stigma forever…she studied further…wrote a thesis on socio-economic aspects of rape in India …became a Professor at New York University…headed an International Advocacy organization…and today lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.

Most importantly, she says that she never really thought of ending her life! In her own words “I have fought for my life and have won it. Being raped was terrible beyond words, but I think being alive is more important… I feel that I am a stronger person now and appreciate my life more than ever.”.

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Well! It’s ok to say “I don’t want to live like this!” or “I don’t want to live here!” or “I don’t want to live with them!”…but avoid saying “I don’t want to live!”

Because then…you will never come to know what life still had in store for you!

“In life, we all have some things we could not achieve, some people we could not beat and some girls we could not get. Losers remember them…winners forget them! In life, success is not only about how well you remember, but also about how soon you forget.”… was my laughably immature advice to my younger cousin; years back.

Not bad for a teenage-boy trying hard to sound wise!! 🙂

But, you know what? With some changes…I would still stand by it!

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Sharp memory isn’t good for happiness.

The best thing about past is that there is a certainty about it…it is safe…known territory…within our control. And it also gives a facility to pick and choose…to ignore what we find unnecessary, focus on what serves our purpose and change interpretations to suit our liking. Well! The backyard belongs to us, that’s why we like it there!

But real-life doesn’t have a reverse gear! Past is only virtual! Find it somewhere and you will find it nowhere! The cosmos didn’t even take pains to erase it, it simply got overwritten! All incidents and events now only remain in your mind and it’s you who refuse to truncate the recycle-bin!

Well! Life’s favorite button is ‘F5’! So, all you can do is ‘Redo’, but for that, you have to first stop wasting time in finding the ‘Undo’ feature in the ‘Help’ menu.

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It is the only truth that exists beyond time!

PS: By the way, if you find a way to forget the girls one couldn’t get then… do share 🙂 🙂

One of my all-time favorite ‘ad punch-lines’ is that of a credit card! It said…

“There are some things that money can’t buy! For everything else…there is MasterCard! 

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For a couple of days, went to the ‘city that never sleeps’ and stayed with my school-buddy & his affectionate family. With work confined to only a few hours…“Boy! Did we indulge!!!”

Watched a movie with such involvement as if it was in my exam-syllabus…read newspaper so seriously as if my life depended on it…took an afternoon-nap after an era…talked senselessly…laughed without a reason…and strolled in the evening as if I am retired and my PF will see me through.

But while being there and witnessing the life out there, I realized that in that affluent city…the greatest luxury still wasn’t a balcony in a sea-facing high-rise, a parking space for your un-dented SUV or a gadget so new that CNBC was yet to review it.

There, the greatest luxury was… a Conversation! …a heart-to-heart conversation.

Well! I saw very few people who could afford it!

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Damned is the mankind! We have made everything ‘free’ so ‘expensive’…

“Why aim for silly things…you should aim for God!”…said the holy man on one of the channels I was surfing through!

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There are two words – ‘Aspiration’ and ‘Ambition’!

We all have an instinctive calling, woven into our basic nature…our original being! When any person, thing, place, act or idea matches it, then we feel a native desire inside. This desire is unadulterated… innocent…pure! It is not a want to possess or acquire, but a longing to belong to it!

Now this desire can be seemingly for absolutely materialistic things like a person, car, house, place or work… and yet it is rooted spiritually, because it emerged from inside!

This is called ‘Aspiration’!

On the other hand, we all have a mind which has been programmed by our experiences, observations and interactions! This mind compares & competes…and gets titillated & seduced. Out of which, a cold-blooded craving for certain things gets produced. This is a sensuous delight, to have or prove!

Now this desire can be seemingly for all the spiritual things like service, contribution, Nirvana or even God…yet it is rooted materialistically, because it got induced from outside!

This is called ‘Ambition’!

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Aspiration for a Car is far more divine than ambition for God! It’s about ‘Authenticity’

Ya…That’s the word!